australia's identified mineral resources 2004 - Geoscience Australia

AUSTRALIA’S IDENTIFIED MINERAL RESOURCES 2004
Below: Beverley in situ leach uranium
mine, South Australia. Ion exchange plant
with main trunkline (pipeline) which
extends from the plant to the in situ leach
wellfield (top right corner of photo).
Recently constructed evaporation ponds
are blue areas adjacent to the plant.
(Heathgate Resources Pty Ltd)
Right: Wellfield at Beverley in situ leach
uranium mine. Main trunkline with
injection wells and recovery wells.
(Heathgate Resources Pty Ltd)
Vanadium
Vanadium is used in metal alloys with iron to produce high strength steel which has a wide range of
uses including the manufacture of axles and crankshafts for the automobile industry, and jet engines
for the aircraft industry. Mine production accounts for only approximately 20% of annual world
production of vanadium, the majority of world production (80%) is a by-product from reprocessing
of steel slags, oil refining, and the uranium enrichment industry.
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Resources
For 2003, Australia had no EDR of vanadium due to the closure of the Windimurra mine and
processing plant, 75 km southeast of Mount Magnet, WA. Xstrata AG reported that the project was
not viable in 2002 (refer ‘Industry Developments’ below) because of continuing low metal prices in
recent years. The large reserves for Windimurra, which were formerly considered to be economic
(prior to 2002), have been reclassified into paramarginal resources.
Australia currently has very large tonnages of vanadium in paramarginal and submarginal resources
within deposits in the Yilgarn region (Windimurra, Gabanintha) and Pilbara region (Balla Balla, Don
Well) of WA.
Historically, prices for vanadium pentoxide (V 2 O 5 ) have varied over a wide range, and as a
consequence, Australia’s EDR has varied with price trends.